Escaping the Resource Curse

Too often, developing nations with natural resource wealth face greater conflict, corruption, and poverty than developing nations without an abundance of oil, gas or minerals. There are solutions to this "resource curse," but without fundamental political changes and increased levels of transparency, countries struggle to convert their own natural resource wealth into lasting benefits for the public good.

In Escaping the Resource Curse, leading economists, lawyers, and political scientists explore the challenges that go along with an abundance of a natural resources and offer a series of solutions in areas including oil contracts and negotations, revenue allocation guidelines; auction models and strategies for strengthening state-society links and public accountability.

Edited by Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey Sachs and Joseph Stiglitz, with a foreword by George Soros, Escaping the Resource Curse was produced by the Revenue Watch Institute, in partnership with the Earth Institute and publisher Columbia University Press.

Read more about Escaping the Resource Curse and order copies online. To inquire about a complimentary copy, please write to rwi@revenuewatch.org.

Managing Iraq's Petroleum

In April 2006, Iraq Revenue Watch hosted a workshop on Managing Iraq's Oil Industry which brought together leading petroleum experts, activists, economists and policy makers from across Iraq's regions and political spectrum. Convened during the World Bank's Fifth Middle East and North Africa Development Forum (MDF5) in Beirut, Lebanon, the workshop sought to identify and refine mechanisms for managing Iraq's oil wealth within a federal framework, in the hope of reducing future conflict and opening the way for compromise in other contentious areas.

With competition for Iraq's vast oil wealth continuing to provoke political and sectarian tensions, participants identified transparency and accountability as bulwarks against such abuse and key instruments for avoiding the "resource curse." Topics covered included the need for clarifications and potential changes to the constitution, national strategies for exploration and development, designs for a sound investment regime, and the establishment of unassailable legislation and more efficient institutions.
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Beyond the Rhetoric

Companies and governments in both the developed and developing worlds have made a range of commitments to transparency in the management of resource revenues. But what actual progress has been made? How does their performance rate?

Conceieved by Save the Children UK, the Measuring Transparency project has developed standards to assess the company and government performance in support of revenue transparency. The project framework tracks progress over time, and the results highlight the leaders and laggards across the sector. These measurements will be used by investors, NGOs, ratings agencies and other relevant actors to pressure companies and governments to implement effective transparency measures.

The Measuring Transparency project was developed in collaboration with investors, independendent consultants, ratings agencies and members of the Publish What You Pay coalition, including the Revenue Watch Institute.
Download and read Beyond the Rheotric, from Save the Children UK:

Company Performance
Home Government Requirements

 

Covering Oil: A Reporter's Guide to Energy and Development

For the vast majority of people in most resource-rich countries, natural wealth does not translate into prosperity, but instead leads to environmental and economic devastation, and hampers democratic reform.

Only an informed public can hold leaders to account. Yet local reporting often overlooks the legal, economic, and environmental implications of resource extraction. Covering Oil: A Reporter's Guide to Energy and Development, a collaborative work of the Open Society Institute's Revenue Watch program and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, aims to encourage rigorous reporting on these issues by providing practical information about the petroleum industry and the impact of resource wealth on a producing country.

"Journalists can play a crucial role in educating people in resource-rich countries on how the petroleum industry affects their lives," said Julie McCarthy, the acting director of Revenue Watch. "But those reporters need access to information in order to know what questions to ask."
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Downloadable Translations:
Spanish | French | Portuguese | Bahasa Indonesia
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Iraq in Transition: Post-Conflict Challenges and Opportunities

In June 2004, the United States and the United Kingdom relinquished civil authority over post-conflict Iraq, ending thirteen months of occupation and marking the creation of an independent interim Iraqi government. Iraq in Transition: Post-Conflict Challenges and Opportunities examines the Coalition's record during occupation and provides benchmarks on how best to approach the shared goal of a more stable and peaceful Iraq.

The United Nations and its member states, including the U.S., have committed themselves to an ambitious plan to stabilize Iraq and to support its political leaders and citizens as they move towards a more open and participatory society. In the years to come, this will require a strong partnership between the Iraqi people, the U.N., and the international community to ensure that Iraqi citizens are protected, an Iraqi economy is renewed, a justice system is restored, key infrastructure is refurbished, and a national education system and health care are available to all Iraqis. These are daunting tasks, given the instability that persists in post-occupation Iraq.

This report, a joint publication of The Open Society Institute and the United Nations Foundation, provides a roadmap for attempting to meet these crucial goals in the months and years ahead.
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Follow the Money: A Guide to Monitoring Budgets and Oil and Gas Revenues

Follow the Money provides practical information on how citizens of resource-rich countries can become effective monitors of government earnings and expenditures. It summarizes the experiences of some of the most successful budget groups in the world. Representatives of these groups came together at Central European University in April 2004 to discuss what it takes to succeed in monitoring government management of public money. The workshop was organized by OSI in partnership with the Center for Policy Studies at Central European University and the International Budget Project.
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Downloadable Translations:
Spanish | French | Portuguese | Bahasa Indonesia
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Caspian Oil Windfalls: Who Will Benefit?

The Open Society Institute has released a report calling for accountability, transparency, and public oversight in the oil and natural gas industries of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

The report, Caspian Oil Windfalls: Who Will Benefit? urges foreign oil companies, their home governments, and international financial institutions to promote good governance and democracy in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to ensure that petroleum revenues generate social prosperity and stable governments.

As the United States and its allies prepare to help shape the post-war Iraqi oil regime, we are reminded that security of energy supply has always been a priority of United States national security policy.
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